7-day impulse control and self-discipline method

Don't skip and read this shit if you're interested in impulse control:

So, recently I experienced a very drastic transformation, going from a lazy guy who couldn't start lifting, wouldn't eat right, couldn't concentrate when I studied, had no impulse control and procrastinated everything to a very disciplined person that is currently working on improving myself in all areas, with a degree of self-control that I could have never imagined.

Because I'm not a person of influence and I have nowhere to share the method I used, I'll just make a somewhat lenghty post about it here, because I know many on Veeky Forums struggle with those things, and then I'll move on. If it helps someone liked it helped me, good.

Let's start.

>the principles and theory of it
I'm not going to post a bunch of scientific articles here, because none of you cunts read them when I do, and I don't want this post to be tl;dr shit. All you have to know is that, in simplistic terms, every habit you have is related to the reward system of your brain, a system that releases neurotransmitters according to the cues you give it. The process is complex, not entirely clear and way beyond my grasp, but I do enjoy reading studies related to this, because, well, that's the sort of thing you do when you're a procrastinator like I was.

For our purposes here, all we have to know is that countless different studies have linked the reward circuitry of the brain to virtually every impulse you can imagine: fear, anxiety, laziness, food addiction, social necessities, social detachment, sadness, intrusive thoughts, etc. Your inability to control any type of impulsive has its roots in the neurochemistry of this wide and complex system.

To give you an example, studies have shown that both obese people and drug addicts have DA D2 receptors in certain brain areas different to those of regular people, and that similar areas receive activation when your brain receives the feedback of drug cues or food cues.

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=ZjHzUzLlir0
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pit_of_despair
twitter.com/NSFWRedditVideo

Another example, people who experienced something called "Social Defeat", particularly in formative years, have shown changes in these same receptors and higher neurological response to social stress.

Reading these studies, even as a layman, made me realise the obvious: your brain is wired to creates patterns and loops, and it physiologically modifies itself to adapt to these patterns, allocating neurotransmitters to those ends. When people (or rats in the experiment, I forgot) experienced social defeat and exclusion repeatedly, their reward system were wired in a way that they did not receive a positive impulse for social stimulus like normal people did, and it was wired to perceive people as a threat. Hence why the bullied kid grew up to become the guy quiet guy who is terrified of people. It's not just psychological conditioning, it's neurochemistry.

I saw studies making similar conclusions with fucking EVERYTHING. Food, music, people, traumas, videogame, porn, everything. Once your brain is wired to respond to certain cues a certain way, it's over, it becomes design. This is why it's hard to quit bad things and start good ones, and why people go their entire lives planning to chang habitts and never doing it. Our neurochemistry is limited and already allocated, and striving for consistency.

But what studies focused on overcoming addiction, in rehabilitation and in re-socialization show again and again is that once your brain no longer receives a certain cue, it will stop allocating those neurotransmitters for that end. And that once your brain picks up on a different stimulus from an old cue (like positive experience from a source that was deemed negative), it is completely modified to now have different responses. For example, even the mice that went through "social defeat" lost most of the symptoms once they were re-introduced to a new house with friendly mice. The reason for that was the reward system re-shaping itself according to new stimuli.

Being the non-scientist that I am, I stretched this into a conclusion that now probably seems somewhat obvious: Your brain has been a wired a certain way given the feedback and cues it received throughout your entire life, and that's where impulses and "old habits" come from, but it can be reseted. The purpose of this method is to understand the value of this reset, and to achieve it.

>the practice
And here's how we do it. Your brain has been conditioned to respond to certain cues, so you'll deprave it from them. You'll no longer give it the feedback it gets from *anything* you enjoy, like a good videogame, good music, from going online, from tasty foods, and even from the nice people you love. You're wasting precious and limited neurotransmitters here, creating an addictive pattern towards wasteful ends. And even if the activity itself is not particularly damaging and it's something you'd like to continue doing later, such as music, you should cut it with the rest for now, because we're trying to get rid of everything that feels pleasant. The purpose is to send your brain into a "adapt or perish" mode, as if you were suddenly deprive of all the means to give it the cues it is waiting for, and that it has to look for new sources. You'll pull the plug off so it can be re-connected to new things.

Make no mistake: The reason it has learned to respond positively to such cues is a flaw in itself, a legacy of our primitive state. We respond positively to food that is crap and makes us fat because our brains evolved in a context of scarcity, so it learned to think that accumulating fat is a good strategy for survival. Other strategies include the desire to mate, to be part of a group, to improve ourselves in supposedly vital tasks through repetition, to accumulate.

But it can't tell context apart or a good source from a bad one, so it now thinks that the endless cycle of porn, junk food, media consumption, internet boards, idleness, videogames and online stalking that some of us are in fit the purpose of evolutionary needs. Your brain only cares about abundance, and in civilized society the bad (and often illusory) source is always easier to find.

So you're going send the signal that these sources have been depleted and we must adapt. You'll cut those pleasant hobbies, stock many books, make a strict meal plan for the next days that consists of healthy shit (more details later), you'll empty your room of most things that make it feel "yours" like posters, computers, personal objects, anything that is aesthetically pleasing to you (this post will get way too long if I get into this, but trust me, this is super fucking important). You will not use a phone, no internet, no masturbation, no regular contact with people you like, no music you enjoy (more important than you think), no TV, no watching the news. Spend most of the day on your bed. If you have to go to work or school, leave your house late and get home early. If you have any reading to do buy it, print it, send it to an e-reader (not a tablet), it will be your main activity.

Your only hobbies will be lifting and reading, maybe meditating, and trust me you'll love doing them even if you hate it now. You're going to keep this up for 7 days.

Also very important: avoid idleness, walking around doing nothing, daydreaming, avoid having imaginary conversations, avoid thinking about the past or people you know. Don't lose yourself in thought, maladaptive daydreaming show that those things can become the "bad, abundant source" on their own.

>why 7 days?
The only thing I can tell is you is that I did this for 7 days, and I chose this number because it kept popping up in the studies. Often when a study tried to get a poor rat who had flawed dopaminergic reward circuits for whatever reason into a new set of circumstances, the time before re-adaptation became evident was around a week. Maybe it's just coincidence, sure, but anyway I think a week seems like enough time to turn you into an empty blank without hindering your life. If you think your case is severe, I recommend a longer period, like 2 or 3 weeks.

>what do I eat?
In some studies, dietary protein led to an increase in striatal dopamine levels, while dietary fats had the opposite effect. One study had rats on a low-protein, high carb diet, which led to decrease in density of D2 dopamine receptor in the striatum and the mesolimbic regions. This seems to be a trend, and we want to keep that reward system sharp for its comeback, so I'd recommend a diet high in protein. My cut was 45% protein, 30% carb, 25% fats, and I made sure most of the fats were coming from nuts and coconut oil. Again, this doesn't have to be a great diet because you'll only keep it for a week. Avoid junk food completely. Also, due to scarcity of good studies linking diet with dopaminergic circuitry, I chose to take some supplements like multivitamins and omega 3, and that I had a good amount of veggies in my diet.

>what do I do after that?
Keep a notebook and a pen around in those days. Use it as a diary if you want, but most importantly, use it to sort out your priorities, write what habits and projects you want to have after, and what habits you want to avoid. Once you're done with the 7 days, re-introduce the positive habits first. Don't try to do it before the 7 days period, even if it's something positive.

Interesting, keep em coming

If your first days after this de-programming period is something like your "ideal" day, your brain will learn to take those actions as cues for its reward system. Eat well, exercise, talk to people, be productive, read, organize your space. You will feel no impulse at all to do any of the bad habits, so you're free to choose now: you can cut them forever, wait a few days to re-introduce them with less intensity. If you still feel urges too strong, add a few more days of abstentionism.

And that's it.

I know this post was long and might as well die with no replies, but I had to write it, because I felt somewhat guilty not sharing this method that has improved my life so bad. The principle is simple and the science that lead me to it is well-known, but for some reason few people have discussed a drastic proposal like that. Well I, at least, haven't seen any. I spent so many years trying different things and nothing worked, that to have it all gone away in a week seemed surreal at first. I avoided people my whole life, now I'm driven towards them. I avoided healthy food and workout, now that's what I crave after a while. I couldn't focus on anything, now I can sit and study for hours and hours with complete focus. I wasted time improving online personas and gaming avatars, now I've channeled this drive towards myself. As someone who was always depressed and unmotivated, this feels like a superpower. Good luck if you try it.

Screencapped, thanks for sharing OP

Please post the screencap
This may be the best post in Veeky Forums since ages
Also OP, please be more specific on something you did on the pre/post period. Also some specific thing you did read and activities we SHOULD do during the period and banned activities

Wise words OP.

...

Another day....
Another meme is born.....

Have you seen an intense shift in who you are after doing all of this?

Thanks op, I hope it helps me

Thanks OP, I appreciate the effort you put into making this thread. I agree with mostly everything you argued in your 6 posts, too bad society is a constant drain on individual willpower. Make no mistake, most people aren't going to undertake the most minimal effort to better themselves, what I meant was that practicing your method for too long might completely rewire the way you socialize with other people to the point where you feel alienated from all of them. Just my opinion.

Nice post op. But could you elaborate more on what can we do during our 7 days cleanse apart from reading and lifting. Can I go for a walk? Can I clean my room and house? Do my homework for university? I could do it easy during the week because of work and gym which takes up most of my day already, but weekend is usually my off day from gym, and apart from 2 hours of cardio I literally have nothing to do.

Gross.

Monk mode is not new and it's a legit method

Someone shoop the armpit hair away

Not OP, but I've tried doing something similar. I don't think I followed the 7-day thing, I mostly said "fuck it, I want my brain to be wired differently, ie I don't only want to feel reward when I smoke hash and are out having fun".
So I changed my habits, first three months was difficult, but boy o boy.. I dance, so I tried pursuing that, just getting up and doing it, and it was four really fucking awesome years.
I ended up doing three different theatre shows for over 15.000 people in total I suppose.
There were periods where I wasn't as religious about it as I could, but overall it made me stronger, made me realize I can do A LOT of shit if I just go for it, stop procrastinate and shit. 10/10, would do again and am about to.
Now I've had 8 months of lifting/being on the computer. Fuck that, time to get back into good habits. Fuck being online, its seriously rewarding to pursue a few simple habits (weightlift, reading, meditation, going for walks, enjoy a good movie...). No stress from the outside world

Thanks user, I needed to be told to adapt or die by forcing myself into a base state and working my way out of it instead of slowly suiciding myself into the same position.

>Don't lose yourself in thought
>write what habits and projects you want to have after

im not trying to shit on you, because i don't think this is a bad idea, but you've told me both to think and not to think in this period of time.

to sound a bit less shallow, id find it hard to keep a diary about anything, much less my goals and aspirations for the future, without thinking about my past in retrospect or comparison. what do?

Thanks,im going to try this.

>Now I've had 8 months of lifting/being on the computer. Fuck that, time to get back into good habits. Fuck being online, its seriously rewarding to pursue a few simple habits (weightlift, reading, meditation, going for walks, enjoy a good movie...). No stress from the outside world

Great Post OP, really good! Maybe those r9k cunts won't be crying as much about their socially defeated brains when they read this!

Who here /impulse control/? ive been sitting on my bed starring at the ceiling for 4 days and i got bored and had te relapse. Any tips for making it?

Point and laugh at these homosexuals

not to play devil's advocate but most 'healthy' habits stimulate dopamine, so incorporating them long-term is as simple as creating a daily routine and sticking to it. same thing with bad habits, identifying them and removing them from your routine (and replacing them with good habits) is pretty do-able without having to do a hard reset like you're proposing. Also, spending a whole week in your room simply isn't possible for most people (for pretty much anybody but a neet) so your recommendation seems a little out of touch. I agree with your interpretation of how the brain works through reward circuits, but the practical advice is overkill for most imo.

tl;dr: We are creatures of habit, no matter if they're good or bad, so we deprave ourselves of them to "reset" our habits and fill them with good ones. It's like NoFap, but for your habits.

It's a good read, but nothing groundbreaking, honestly if you're in your early 20s or above and aren't totally retarded you should know this by now. Not hating on the posts or OP, just adding my opinion. The posts are still good as teach those who don't know this yet and/or motivate those who already do, even giving them a guide on how to improve. You don't need to do what OP did, if your life is in order with a few bad habits you can just work on cutting those one by one. Years ago I cut out video games completely and I suddenly found myself with an abundance of time and each day went past so slowly compared to before. In order to fill this void that previously video games occupied, I added new hobbies and skills. Cooking, baking, general repair are all great skills to have and our parents gladly teach them to us. Like I said most young adults should know this, however the hardest thing is to actually do something about it and stick with it.

I'd also suggest checking out /sig/ - Self Improvement General, especially the sticky, because it has so many good information. Years ago I also found this video, which really motivates me and covers the same topic as OP. At the end of the video the speaker gives you a challenge: "For thirty days, do your very best".

youtube.com/watch?v=ZjHzUzLlir0

Kek
This guy gets it

I’m in school right now, working part time in my profession. I think what he was saying is that if you must, go fulfill your obligations, nothing else. Don’t speak to others, don’t buy fast food, don’t listen to music while you do it.

to go more in depth, in my opinion it does boil down to neurotransmitters, mostly dopamine. dopamine increases energy and motivation, so people that have low energy and motivation are likely to have low levels of dopamine. people with low dopamine are therefore more likely to seek out highly rewarding (and therefore addicting) behaviors like fast food, internet browsing, video-games or porn amongst other things. these things produce big spikes of dopamine, which cause the receptors to become less sensitive, and causes a negative feedback loop:
low energy/motivation-->addictive behavior-->lower energy/motivation (from receptor downregulation)-->seeking out more addictive behavior
etc.

So yes, I do think that removing (or at the very least reducing) these addictive habits is important for healthy dopamine regulation, but I don't think that cutting out all of them cold turkey and replacing them with a slew of good habits is very realistic or significantly more useful than a more nuanced approach for most people. why the rush?

Simply incorporating habits that improve dopamine regulation (the most powerful ones would be meditation or walks in sunny nature imo) and sticking to them on a daily basis will improve your dopamine sensitivity enough that you will naturally be less drawn to addictive behaviors. This will make it much easier to identify and reduce them, while lengthening your pro-dopamine activities and incorporating new ones.
1/2

Not to sound judgmental but your regiment sounds nightmarish and I doubt most people with low-dopamine issues would have to motivation to stick with it and reap the benefits (although I'm sure that those who did would benefit). It seems akin to fasting to lose weight. It works for the select few that can stick to it and who are able to incorporate healthy habits afterwards, but in many (imo most) cases, people fail due to lack of motivation, self-loathing ensues and they go back to their previous self destructive eating patterns, creating unhealthy binge/purge cycles.
You need to play the long game, go slowly and stick to the positive changes you make, while increasing mindfulness and knowing to stop yourself if/when you see yourself falling back into bad habits, immediately replacing them back with good ones.
2/2

good post desu I will consider this
my major issue is that I talk to everyone
It takes like, hours out of my day. It’s exhausting. I don’t know if any of your feel this feel though. I love to talk but it just bites my time so mich

>For example, even the mice that went through "social defeat" lost most of the symptoms once they were re-introduced to a new house with friendly mice. The reason for that was the reward system re-shaping itself according to new stimuli.


I think I'm one onf those mice. I was "socially defeated" in my teenage years (obese, kissless etc), but went to a thing common in Scandinavia called "Folk school" which many people spend a "gap year", to use the english term, on. Here I was exposed socially at all times, even sharing a rather small room with another person. I think I've been socially reprogrammed, for now I feel great joy from being social, and that in a way I'm certain I never did previously.

Some of the worst archery form I've ever seen

also, social behavior isn't comparable to any bad/addictive habit. It increases mood and unregulated receptors, increasing energy and motivation in the longterm. social behavior is very healthy and avoiding it is absurd imo. if you have to cut bad habits out, stick with games/tv/porn/internet/junk food. if you feel you're dependent on music or overly dependent on other people, try reducing time spent but they're perfectly healthy.

Music is one of the greatest meme people fell for
It's highly addictive, yelds almost no benefit and people who talk about it a lot tends to be subhumans

>yelds almost no benefit
Perhaps you're tonedeaf or something.
Music gives me joy and drive to get tbrough any day and any task. It yields so many benefits, and something great without downsides being "addictive" isn't a problem. Try listening to something other that trap music next time.

Yeah, and you should get that joy by yourself. You don't need music.
Music is one of those things that's only good in moderation and with specific purposes. OP is smart and said to don't listen to it for a week

I get removing it for OP's (rather extreme) purposes, but why would I want exchange this now certain source for joy and drive for another, only potential, source?

lots of highly achieving people use boosters like music/coffee/supplements. motivation will only get you so far, if you're going for performance, willpower+ boosters will get you further than only willpower. note that this applies to healthy people. using boosters as a crutch to delegate willpower/energy isn't healthy, but adding them on top of willpower/energy can be.

> gives me joy and drive
> as does cocaine
> has 0 self awareness

high achieving people are most of the time also extremely competitive by nature, some are also just lucky and everything falls in place for them but generally what gets high achievers up is the will to be better than somebody else

the only legit booster that has physiological evidence is caffeine

1) bumping the shit out of this post

2) This sounds a lot like a Vipassana retreat, except you are allowed to read and exercise.
-isolation
-prescribed diet
-no idleness, just meditation (and in OP's version, also reading)
-around 10 days long
-after: reintroduce good habits slowly

3) OP, I'm doing this starting Sunday

4)
>write what habits and projects you want to have after,
-reading more
-working on my business at least 1h/day
-studying circuit design
-more regular gym schedule (nuke fuckarounditis)
-meditate 20m/day
-seek out a social interaction 1x/day
-mindful of posture
-listen to music for pleasure (not just constant background noise)

>and what habits you want to avoid.
-no porn
-no masturbating every fucking day
-no weed
-(basically nothing that's an instant hit of dopamine for no effort)

>Can I go for a walk? Can I clean my room and house? Do my homework for university?
I'm not OP, but in Vipassana you can walk for a break, but you can't go running for exercise. You can also work and do cleaning, but no playing the radio or watching TV while you work. If you are sweeping the floor, just sweep.
Homework and school I think OP would agree is totally fine.

5) I agree with a couple other posters that whatI OP has stumbled on is not new or groundbreaking, and is mostly common sense...
but what OP DID do is lay out a very clear plan to implement what we all pretty much know as common sense. He made a plan to rewire his brain and shared it with us.
the science is not new
the clear plan to follow is

>people that have low energy and motivation are likely to have low levels of dopamine. people with low dopamine are therefore more likely to seek out highly rewarding (and therefore addicting) behaviors
quoting for truth

social behavior IS healthy, but to rewire our brains, we need to remove all reward stimuli and then reintroduce the good stuff (like positive social interaction)

thanks op, i'll give it a shot

>but to rewire our brains, we need to remove all reward stimuli and then reintroduce the good stuff
doubtful. brain circuits aren't linear or binary, you don't actually re-wire circuits, you simply downregulate the ones you ignore and create new ones that you then reinforce. it's a big, loose and highly variable spectrum. you just need to start walking in the right direction and stick to it, don't overthink or overplan, be mindful of what feels right for you and just do it. everybody's has different needs, I've never been convinced by one-size-fits-all approaches.

HOW TO GET CLINICAL DEPRESSION
>THE THREAD

>en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pit_of_despair

Lol nice try OP
post the bleach crystals tutorial next time.

Who else /no fun/ here?

From the article:
>Harlow devised what he called a "rape rack", to which the female isolates were tied in normal monkey mating posture. He found that, just as they were incapable of having sexual relations, they were also unable to parent their offspring, either abusing or neglecting them. "Not even in our most devious dreams could we have designed a surrogate as evil as these real monkey mothers were", he wrote.[8] Having no social experience themselves, they were incapable of appropriate social interaction. One mother held her baby's face to the floor and chewed off his feet and fingers. Another crushed her baby's head. Most of them simply ignored their offspring.[8]

Good lord this guy should have been flayed alive as an example. Academic psychologists were a horrible mistake.

>Harlow was born on October 31, 1905, to Mabel Rock and Alonzo Harlow Israel
You mean jews were a mistake?
How does that even compare, you fucking faggot?

how's that attitude working out for you?
are you happy in life?

I'm not expecting an answer. Just trying to make you think. Is there anything in your life that could be better?

Thank you user

STICKY
T
I
C
K
Y

>Do this monk shit for 7 days
I'm both amused and sad that you spent a lot of time conjuring these posts. "Exit your comfort zones" or "fake it until you make it" mottos have existed for quite a while. Your approach is more cocoon-ish, which makes it inherently bad. For at least two reasons.
Whilst taking a vacation from lousy habits is potentially good, giving depressed/repressed people a good excuse to even go further down their rabbit hole with some monk practices won't help them at all.
Secondly, you should "retrain" in real environments, not in temporary, perfected ones. Otherwise it's no better than a crush diet. You rethink, if anything, your current life; you don't go and play a RPG for a week impersonating your ideal self in a completely different, detached environment.

You're reasoning in totally different terms.
We are not talking about "confidence" or similar stuff.
We're talking about recovering from addictice behaviour, and what OP prescribed works well.
No neet passes his time doing productive work

reason I might give this a go is: worst case scenario, nothing happens and i won a week of dedicated reading. It's not like nofap where there's no endgame.

I also dig the reasoning. I always thought that what allows men to change in prison and army for example is the complete detachment from your previous life. It's basically a mental scorched earth policy, burn everything and start again.

>We are not talking about "confidence" or similar stuff.
Yes, you are. It's exactly the same ballpark and it's even mentioned as one of the "habits" inherited by bullied individuals and the like.

>worst case scenario, nothing happens and i won a week of dedicated reading
bingo
all the skelly and hamplanet haters in this thread saying "it won't work, it's retarded"
then prove it.

He is talking about reinstablishing regular cortisol levels.
It's something biological, you have no idea what he is talking about

Interesting stuff OP. I might give this a try.

why do NEETs always come up with dumb shit as this

thanks for this man

yes it compares you put yourself in an enviorment which lacks in stimuli.
Think about it,
No dopamine receptors and dopamine causing all your behaviour means a complete stop of your behaviour.

my life is pretty decent.
Im a mathematician. have a girlfriend who is very good looking.

I was doing this and going along really well but then I farted myself back into masturbating.

Good advice, I started doing this a while ago and now I'm hyper productive, sure, I take some rests when I need them, hardly visit the 4chans anymore, and post even less.

But it's interesting that this thread is on during a period of rest.

What helped me massively was waking up early and the way Jocko describes what it does to you. Said simply, if you wake up earlier than you are used to, and your alarm goes and you put if off and get up, instead of hitting snooze or just laying their, you start the day without procrastinating and you carry that mindset throughout the day.

the thread is very well written what the fuck is your problem you dumb nigger

>being forced in a 1 square mater pit without anything to do and without any possibility to escape is the same as being free to move everywhere and lift and read for 1 week

>you have no idea what he is talking about
the trademark of someone with no arguments whatsoever.
>cortisol
Nope.
But you're here just to push for your new fad dogma and it seems you'll spout any rhetorical fallacy to defend your creed. good luck with that.

Dumb psychologist, go read another self-help article

>pointing out how they are different while neglecting how they are similar
>inb4 MDUHH BUT DEY IS MONKEYS

That's you.

I never talked about a difference in who was subject to the condition, but a completely difference in the situation. Typical dumb animeposter

it's not just NEETs, the "follow this TEN steps and you'll lose TWENTY pounds in SEVEN days" is a well-renowned marketing gimmick. It grants a satisfying sense of control if the reader seeking for some self-improvements is given something immediately measurable, no matter if what is given matches other criteria as far as efficiency is concerned.
Some people can get some benefits from these, some people don't. You know, as long as it's the kickstarter and not a mantra, it may even be beneficial somehow

Thanks user. I need to reset and this is something I needed. Nights spent drinking and masturbating need to stop.

good. then let other people live their lives

this is not what this thread is about, this thread is basically explaining how you can positively reward yourself in a very well educated and thought out manner

>I'm not going to post a bunch of scientific articles here

Really appreciate the post, OP! If you are still around, would you mention some of the source material that you found valuable?

some people aren't so far gone that they need to start up from zero, not to mention people with well functioning lifestyles don't have a week to drop everything to dedicate to meditation.
If this advice was meant to apply only to neets riddled with addictions, it should have been stated. I also agree that cutting yourself out of your regular environnement isn't necessarily very constructive, as it separates the "good" habits you're learning from your actual daily routine. working slower to incorporate these habits into a functional routine that you can stick to in the long term seems like a better, if more nuanced approach.

this approach is the same as nofap or fasting: quick, short-term fixes with little long-term benefits compared to slower but more permanent lifestyle fixes

part of having shitty dopamine sensitivity is being impatient and wanting everything as quickly as possible.

part of long-term improvement comes from accepting the fact that years of dysbiosis will take more than a week or so of effort to fix. it takes time and continual effort, some things many people struggle to accept

re-read the post you're quoting. This thread is giving readers immediate "positive rewards" and the "well educated and thought out manner" is absolutely debatable. It's no more no less than >"Exit your comfort zones" or "fake it until you make it"

I wasnt refering to your previous argument but to potential arguments about the nature of the group it was tested on.
Fact of the matter remains that OP's "lifehack" Aims to interfere with your reward mechanism.
As he pointed out, rewards are the reason to do things.
Not letting yourself get rewards means you dont reinforce your behaviour.
This is precicely what happens to monkeys in the pit of dispair.
Nothing they do matters because there is no reward.

You are still neglecting the fact that they are similar in this way.

OPs post isn't promising quick gains or anything like that, it's simply a self experiment he is reporting about and how it worked for him.

he even writes that others may have varying success and that he is not an expert on the topic

"exit the comfort zone" is not really related with "confidence" self-help. At all.

>it's not just NEETs, the "follow this TEN steps and you'll lose TWENTY pounds in SEVEN days"
Yeah because an anonymous post in an open, public board has the same incentive behind as a gimmicky diet or workout meant to sell books and products, right?

And btw, one thing all gimmicks have in common is a way to remove the burden from the buyer, by showing an easy path towards their goals. The OP is the exact opposite, it's a pretty radical approach that seems very demanding and will probably require a lot of endurance. There's no marketing logic behind it, it's not a product, it's someone sharing experience.

It's cool and natural to be skeptical of things. We all need to question shit and figure out answers together. But the best tool to support skepticism is trial and error, so we can't shut down experiments just because they don't resemble something we've seen before. People will try this, I might try this, in a week some of us will be back to talk about our experiment with it. We'll gain knowledge together and this won't interfere with your life at all.

you seem to be insinuating that im interfering with other peoples lives?

I dont think I do.
I understand you got your hopes up after OP's post because you see a way to controle your own behaviour.
Dont get me wrong, it got my hopes up aswell.
Then I realized its a shit method.
But honestly, I dont think im interfering with anyone's life if im criticizing OP's method.

If you dont welcome criticism in your life you wont know where to improve, so thats not a great strategy, unless you like hugg boxes.
How is that working out for you?

The brain gives you a reward based on what you do, for example if you complete a task you get a reward.
The monkey can do nothing, while you have many activities that give you a reward to do during OP's week
Another dumb psychologist

good luck with your depression then I suppose

>The OP is the exact opposite, it's a pretty radical approach that seems very demanding and will probably require a lot of endurance.
yeah, a lot like nofap and fasting, which both have general threads on this board but are both very unconvincing in terms of results.
"get rich quick" schemes can work, and very occasionally do, but for the vast majority of people they don't, and so recommending them to someone who wants to get rich is ignorant at best, and decietful at worst.

re-read the post you're quoting again. Nowhere was implied that OP promised anything. The "I'm not a scientist _and_ I won't link a single thing" is just sad, but that's another issue

>Yeah because an anonymous post in an open, public board has the same incentive behind as a gimmicky diet or workout meant to sell books and products, right?
Exactly. You don't need to sell something to use effective marketing lingo.
>And btw, one thing all gimmicks have in common is a way to remove the burden from the buyer, by showing an easy path towards their goals. The OP is the exact opposite, it's a pretty radical approach that seems very demanding and will probably require a lot of endurance.
No. It's way easier to set yourself in cocoon mode for a week or on a crush diet for a month rather than dieting properly or adjusting your pathways in a real environment.
See >cutting yourself out of your regular environnement isn't necessarily very constructive, as it separates the "good" habits you're learning from your actual daily routine.
also,
>Some people can get some benefits from these, some people don't. You know, as long as it's the kickstarter and not a mantra,

>I might try this, in a week some of us will be back to talk about our experiment with it.
Godspeed.

saying
"HOW TO GET CLINICAL DEPRESSION
>THE THREAD"
isn't offering constructive criticism

get off your high horse and stop pretending like you were adding anything to the conversation.
I welcome criticism... so stop shitposting and offer some if you have any.

Eh. Speaking from experience, being NEETish might imply that you've already gone through this trial -- thus, you need only make changes to your life. This 7 day trial might be a nice kickstarter to making changes, but you could substitute in any moderately difficult challenge (e.g. NoFap) to use a springboard for bigger life changes.

I'm not entirely convinced how this might work on the social side, either; unless you get a magical change in personality, you're still gonna be an autist at the end of the 7 days, so you're still likely to face social rejection, which would put you back to square one. And you're still likely not to recognize positive social cues as they are -- see the monkey experiments mentioned ITT.

I'd more elegantly say that humans work on momentum. We tend to do the things we're used to doing, so long as the difficulty doesn't suddenly spike. Social rejection can be considered a scenario where, faced with sudden increased difficulty, we fail to surmount the challenge and thus vie to do easier things.

The general solution would be to
1) recognize that it can be difficult,
2) improve your skills in the area (as it applies to socializing, the only tried and true way is to interact with people; most books/guides are of dubious merit, and in any case, the ways and rules of interacting with people are always changing), and
3) do it with the above steps or without them, knowing that you can fail and that it's OK to fail because you're not as experienced as you'd like to be. With time, that will change.

nice snake oil OP

bumping goat thread

If you're trying to trigger me, you've succeeded.

>cocaine feels good and is addictive
>music feels good and is addictive
>therefore, having analyzed every significant aspect of both, they are equal

One has negative effects on your body, be it with addiction or not, the other doesn't. See if you can figure out how this is important all on yopur own.

I'm not the guy you are replying to, but there's no way you seriously think music is addictive like cocaine.

but 7/8 for getting me to reply to bad b8

can someone fix this screenshot? part of OP's 5th post is covered up

You can still read it though

>I'm gonna save this image for later (put it on my computer and forget about it) instead of doing it now
weak

does this have a name?

I'm gonna do it and make a thread about results next week

/7-day impulse control/ ?

can you elaborate, hour by hour, what these days actually look like? no social interaction, no internet, no walking around idle... what is there left? it's not like I can lift for 16 waking hours every day.